Ray gets waiver for assistance

I wish the two young men well and hope all things fall together and are properly supervised.

A decision from the NCAA with some heart and common sense. I hope this is a trend. Best of luck to the young man.

TPM,

Thanks for posting the follow-up story.

This is great news. I hope everything goes well for everybody involved.

The NCAA just did a 180 and I think they just opened a can of worms. That ruling just set in place a method for a college to give assistance to an athlete based on his needs. The UNIVERSITY and those associated with the university should not be allowed give student athletes special consideration no matter what their needs are. There are many organizations and federal programs that offer assistance to those in need and the wise thing for the NCAA to do would be to allow those organizations to step in and provide assistance. While it may sound harsh, "preferential treatment" from any university to an athlete should not be allowed. Her is a "for instance". Let's say there is this great high school athlete that is being recruited by a university BUT this high school athlete has a job and helps support his family while going to high school. (very common) If he goes to play for the university the family will suffer the loss of his income and the family will suffer. No problem --- the NCAA allows us to subsidize the loss of his income so we will be able to send a check to his home every month. --- AND ---The student athlete has the only car in the family so what will the family do if he takes the car to college? No problem --- the NCAA will give us a waiver and you can either buy you a car or you can use this "university" car while he's in college and here's the university’s credit card to use for gas. While this may sound absurd I can assure you there are college coaches that have taken notice of what just happened and feel that the NCAA's “compassionate gesture” can help them recruit athletes.

I think part of the difficulty for me is that a non-athlete would be able to receive some extra assistance from the school if a special need like this was recognized. Years ago, I was a young mother (as opposed to an old mother now!) with two very small children, was going through a divorce, and I wrecked and totalled my car while attending college. My minister (without my knowledge) contacted my school and explained the struggles that had entered my life. The school responded in a couple of ways financially that made a tremendous difference in my and my children's lives. If I had been an athlete they couldn't have done what they did.

To think that a school/coaches/staff/students couldn't respond and act to help a student like Ray would be heartbreaking. Yet, the situation could be manipulated exactly like Fungo says.

As I said in my earlier post on this young man, there should be TONS of federal and state aid available for him which would have nothing to do with NCAA. IMO, that would have been a way to get him the help he needed without involving the NCAA and this debate. However, if the wrong decision has been made here, it at the error was on the side of compassion.

I do not think that there is a can of worms being opened here.

They, the NCAA, stated that cases are evaluated on a one by one basis and this particular case was deemed to have merit. The next one may not as may many others after this

This case also was at a high profile school and got a load of media attention putting the NCAA in a corner so to speak

At least the NCAA did the right thing in this case

If you're going to open up your life publicly like that young man did it may be worth opening that "can of worms". What I liked is they forced the NCAA to open their heart a bit. This does not mean that any Tom, Dick, or Harry that has a cash flow problem will be granted a waiver, it only means that after investigating the issue, the NCAA with the backing of the school and conference have accepted the fact that there are "situations".

While I agree with Fungo that there are other ogrganizations that could help out, this process kept the issue in the NCAA bed where it can be monitored. The mega-can of big worms would be opened if other groups were to be involved

I can only say that the younger brother is blessed with having someone who loves and cares that much. While I almost always agree with Fungo, on this occassion I found my self rooting for the boys and appreciating that the NCAA took this one incident and ruled in a way that made me beleive in the goodness of the community

excellent news!!....good to see some common sense applied to benefit all....

Fungo, be scared. Be very very scared. You're thinking like the NCAA normally does.

If you read carefully, Ray was seeking assistance in the form of non monetary help (rides and child care for his brother while away), which was not allowed by NCAA as it was looked upon as special favors. And because the brother was living with an NCAA scholarship student any aid given to him was looked upon as aid to the student. It was a tough situation. As a redshirt freshman, he did not originally enter the university with this burden.

Obviously there were coaches wives and staff that were willing to assist in the above to help out. No one was even allowed to give even any "hand me downs" to the brother. That is all that is granted for now.
Although the university would like to give financial assistance in some form, it might not come to being and if so would be most likely only be in excess as to what is needed.

This young man never asked for anything, it was brought out in the open by his team mates and staff, who wanted to go about it the right way, without jeopardizing his scholarship.

I do not beleive it will open a can of worms. I think the scenerio is alot different than the one stated above.

I only posted this story originally (as stated) because as a parent who worried when son first went off to college about him learning to live on his own (how to use ATM card, write a check getting to class on time, learning how to do wash, etc) all seems quite silly now after reading about this remarkable student.

I'm very happy for these brothers. It takes a lot of courage for Ray Ray to step up and be a man in this situation. My concern about this situation, well, more of a question, is what does this ruling by the NCAA happen to mean for scholarship athletes that are married?

I believe David Carr was married and had a kid while he was still at Fresno State. If his wife were to have to work or go to classes while the team was on the road, was it alright for an assistant coach's wife to watch their child? Does anybody know if the NCAA has rules about married student athletes or even student athletes who may already be single parents for whatever reason? This would more than likely show up in a case where the school was far away from any family. But, it could change the decisions of many young men when being recruited by schools out of high school that may be in situations where they have their own kids already, or on the way, if the school will help them take care of the child in whatever way.

But again, I think here the NCAA did right in trying not only to help one of it's athletes, but a second young man who needs the athlete and giving them the ability to keep at least a part of their family together.

CC,
A married scholarship student is looked upon the same as a scholarship student's family (parents, grandparents, etc.) as far as NCAA is concerned. Receiving money from family is not "outside" assistance.

quote:

If his wife were to have to work or go to classes while the team was on the road, was it alright for an assistant coach's wife to watch their child? Does anybody know if the NCAA has rules about married student athletes or even student athletes who may already be single parents for whatever reason? This would more than likely show up in a case where the school was far away from any family. But, it could change the decisions of many young men when being recruited by schools out of high school that may be in situations where they have their own kids already, or on the way, if the school will help them take care of the child in whatever way.

CCKnights,
I think the NCAA has shown that the athlete on scholarship could get child care for his dependant child and possible housing and transportation for his wife all from the university if she is dependent on him for support. This ruling will bring to light some interesting situations where the NCAA will have to rule on.